LOVE ON THE SPECTRUM – Season 2

Netflix trailer: https://rb.gy/mlhk52

I could watch this all day, every day. Will you feel the same way? I won’t guarantee it.

Maybe it’s who I am, or maybe it’s because I’ve gotten older, but ultimately it all comes down to people, and their interactions. Sure, achievement is important, but it’s secondary to life, which everybody lives. We all encounter challenges, and your possessions will not keep you warm at night.

So what we’ve got here is people on the autism spectrum.

Let’s be clear. These are not people who you think have Asperger’s (a term no longer used), these are people who are challenged, who you can tell are a bit different oftentimes just by looking at them, certainly after hearing them speak. They’re different, but no better or worse than you and me. They’re here on this planet. They’re looking for love, companionship. They want to have full lives. But it’s challenging.

Now one thing you notice is the commitment of the parents. They’ve risen to the challenge, their lives are now consumed by, centered around their child, even if they have other children. And oftentimes these other children focus on the sibling with autism, because they’re special in unanticipated ways. They’re warm, compassionate, lovable. But most have trouble interacting with other people. They’re afraid.

So many of these people have never gone on a date before. They don’t even know how to do it. What seems easy to you or me is unfathomable to them. Connor is so nervous. You’re rooting for him, but at times he literally needs to take himself out of the action, to cool down. And when a potential date comes his way he starts to boil on the inside, and his mother, bless her heart, says the family is not going to talk about it, they’re going to leave it in abeyance, for Connor to ponder, over the next week. I wish my mother had the same attitude. Some girl I had an attraction to would come up at the dinner table and my father would joke and my sisters would poke and I would do everything in my power to make sure the girl never came up in conversation again.

And then there’s Abbey. I’ve seen her and her mother on social media. They travel, she makes hats. She’s upbeat and attractive, and can be enthusiastic, but can also be deeply disappointed. She’s a joy, except when she’s not. She’s still seeing David… And we ultimately find out David’s one of three, triplets. The other two are girls, normal as you and me. But David…

Yet he’s got such a warm heart.

And then there’s Dani. My absolute favorite. She’s got all these requirements. Her significant other must love animation, must be educated, must have a good job. You have to smile and laugh, but to her these are nonnegotiables. And Dani lives with her aunt and uncle in Pasadena and has since age eleven and I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened here. So I researched online, and found out even though Dani is so verbal today, she didn’t speak at all until she was six, her parents couldn’t handle her and her autism.

And then there’s Tanner. He’s got a job at a hotel in Clemson and an incredibly positive disposition. But he thinks he should walk in front of his date. He lives outside the family home, unlike most in this series, but there are certain verticals of human interaction in which he is totally blank.

And then there’s James, from the Boston area. He has deep anxiety. And, like most of his castmates, has deep interests in specialized categories, in his case he loves and collects swords. And he’s intelligent and can understand the world, but when it comes to interactions… He too has a checklist.

It’s fascinating. They’ve had almost no love interactions, but their desires are so high. Then again, it’s kind of like you and me, when we start dating, we’ve got a picture of who our significant other will be, and they ultimate don’t comport with that image whatsoever.

The series is heartbreaking and heartwarming. You wince yet you laugh. You feel sorry for these people and then you admire them.

Two thumbs WAY up!

SALTBURN

Trailer: https://rb.gy/j9wqyr

You’ve seen the ads. It played in theatres, now it’s part of Amazon Prime. I felt the buzz so I looked it up on Rotten Tomatoes, where it has a 71% critics rating (and a 79% audience score, but I don’t always trust that). 

In this case, the critics have it exactly right. 71% is accurate.

And you know that 80% is my standard. But two people I trust (although I won’t trust them so much in the future), absolutely raved about “Saltburn” and Felice wanted to watch something different, so we pulled it up.

First and foremost you’ll notice the aspect ratio. As in it doesn’t fit your entire screen. Which is kind of odd. Since it used to be the other way around.

Anyway, the images are rich. And it starts in Oxbridge. (I learned this term from Tony Wilson, Oxford and Cambridge, and I still can’t tell the two universities apart).

And Ollie has no friends, and Felix is the life of the party.

So what I got most from this movie was the life of the idle rich.

I know some of these people. You think you want to not have to worry about money, not have to worry about having a job, but that is absolutely untrue. Then what time would you wake up? So many of these people are deep into alcohol, partying. Sure, they hang with household names at places you can’t get into, but once you’re up close and personal…you wouldn’t want to.

Actually, I was reading in the “Times” about the World Economic Forum in Davos and…

By time I was through I had no desire to go. You see there’s a hierarchy.

You can’t get backstage. But once you’re in that world, there’s a stratum of passes. And what you want is All Access, and not everybody gets it. You see people who think they’re friends of the band, who know someone attached to the band or the promoter, and they walk around with their passes stuck right up front on their clothing and basically they can’t get in anywhere.

I can get All Access at shows. But not in the rest of life. Because I haven’t paid the dues. You have to pay the dues in every vertical to get access. Sure, if you’re big enough you can transfer from one to another, but then you must be a household name. And you get to the point where you no longer want to have to fight, to prove your worthiness, you’d rather just not go at all. It’s akin to cocaine. Which is not like marijuana. As in it’s expensive and unless you’re somebody, you’re not going to be invited into the bathroom. What was that joke? Ultimately behind the door there’s one very famous person doing coke alone?

Anyway, I mention the World Economic Forum because this article listed acts who played gigs there. I’m sure it paid well, and Sting was there in support of RED, a charity, but is there anything acts won’t do these days? A musician can get the notice of these fat cats by speaking truth, that is their power. Instead, most sell out and cower to people who don’t care about them and never will. These musicians have a price, and it’s insanely low, even if it’s a few million dollars, that means nothing to these people. Furthermore, oftentimes the act performs and no one even listens. And this is what is wrong with both music and the world today. Money talks.

Anyway, Felix’s family has money. Inherited wealth. No one works. And…

These are the people you read about who you think are so fabulous and watching “Saltburn” you see they are not. Or at least you should see this, maybe you’re mesmerized by the trappings, like Ollie.

Rosamund Pike is SO good. Thin as a whippet, as most of the ultra-rich are. She’s cold and gossipy and lives under the rubric of the show must go on, no matter what. And everything is expendable.

Her husband is a doofus.

And then you’ve got another woman married to a doofus and knows it, but he’s rich!

And then you’ve got Felix’s sister, who is lost and looking for love.

And so much of “Saltburn” is so well done, but ultimately you’ll be disappointed. You won’t see the twist coming, it’s only foreshadowed a scene before, but then…

You ultimately won’t buy it.

So ultimately I can’t recommend “Saltburn.” It’ll hold your attention, but it’s not riveting. And you’ve seen films like this before, it’s just that they stopped making them once superhero blockbusters started to dominate. Felix has that easygoing prep school charisma. I know, because I went to a college where 45% of the students went to prep school. And Farleigh is the epitome. A lackadaisical attitude. They take nothing seriously. They think it’s all a game. But they’re so well-read, they can run circles around those who went to public schools (well, private schools are called “public” in the U.K., but you know what I’m talking about).

And speaking of Farleigh, he keeps reinforcing that Ollie is an outsider, that he can never have what he and his family have. And this is true.

Once again, if you’re kissing the ass of the rich for the perks, you’ve got it all wrong, you’re missing the point, the joke is on you. They’ll never ever accept you. And even when you’re with them you’re a second class citizen. You can fly on the private plane, but you can’t sit in their seat. You can live off their largesse but don’t act like you expect it. They can take you to dinner, but if you ask where you’re going to dinner first that makes you appear entitled, and they don’t like that. They are in control. You can perform for your supper. You can make conversation. But when they circle the wagons you’re out.

Then again, if you haven’t hung with these people will you get this?

I don’t know. But I do know that ultimately “Saltburn” goes from believable to unbelievable and in the process the entire film is compromised.